Patriarch Pavle was born in 1914 in the village of Kućanci in Slavonia, then Austria-Hungary. In 1936 he came to Belgrade, where he enrolled and later graduated from the Faculty of Theology. He also enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine, but soon World War II began. During the war he worked for a while on construction sites to support himself, but due to poor health he gave up work and left Belgrade for the St. Trojica Monastery in the Ovčar-Kablar region, where he spent the last two years of the war. He began monastic life in the Blagoveštenje Monastery, and here Gojko Stojčević was named Pavle, after Apostle Pavle. He was elected bishop of the Eparchy of Raška-Prizren in 1957. There he built new churches and renovated old ones, ordained priests and ordained monks. He was elected Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1990 and remained in that position for the rest of his life, until 2009. The Patriarch also engaged in scientific work, publishing monographs, studies and prayer books. During Patriarch Pavle's tenure, religious education was returned to schools, and the Faculty of Theology again became an integral part of the University of Belgrade after it was excluded during communism.
Apart from the official speeches the Patriarch gave to the public, citizens could often see Patriarch Pavle on the streets of the city. They could meet him while walking, at the market and in the trams he loved to ride. He was humble and quiet, but devoted to the faith, the Church and his people.